Another Torture Complaint Filed|Against U.S. Contractors In Iraq

SEATTLE (CN) – CACI International and L-3 Services employees tortured an Iraqi civilian who was held at Abu Ghraib prison for more than a year, then released without ever being charged with anything, the man claims in Federal Court.

Sa’adoon Ali Hameed Al-Ogaidi, 36, says he teaches Arabic and has a store in Baghdad and was “badly tortured” by CACI employee Daniel E. Johnson. Al-Ogaidi says the defendants abducted him from his home on the night of Sept. 29, 2003. An L-3 translator beat him, then he was taken in a Hummer to place where he was put in “a cage intended for animals” and denied sleep for days, he says. Eventually, he was taken from the cage to Abu Ghraib, where he was not given a number, but “was illegally grated as a ‘ghost detainee.'” He claims that at Abu Ghraib, an L-3 translator put a gun to his head and threatened to kill him; he was stripped and paraded naked in front of other prisoners; he was handcuffed and hung naked from the bars of his cell; he was handcuffed through the cell bars to another prisoner, to deny both of them sleep; and subjected to other indignities, until he was released on Dec. 9, 2004, without ever being charged with anything. He says the Pentagon paid CACI “millions of dollars” for its services, including “interrogation services,” and paid L-3, formerly Titan Corp., for translators. Al-Ogaidi says Johnson was one of the men who tortured him, and that “Johnson and his cohort of military police conspirators would repeatedly brag about torturing DJ Johnson’s prisoners.” The complaint states: “DJ Johnson’s co-conspirator Sgt. Ivan Frederick, who was sentenced to 8 years in prison for his own participation in the conspiracy, has testified that Johnson once directed him to inflict extreme physical pain on the prisoner by forcing him into a stress position on a chair and pressing his sensitive body parts. Sgt. Johnson, acting at DJ Johnson’s direction, also temporarily suffocated the prisoner. On another occasion, Sgt. Frederick found DJ Johnson’s directives to harm the prisoner to be so aggressive that he refused to continue to participate in that particular torture session. DJ Johnson did not stop the torture session, but instead obtained help from different co-conspirators.” Al-Ogaidi says L-3’s and CACI’s motivation for torture was “wholly financial – (they) made millions of dollars as a result of keeping quiet about and participating in the conspiracy to torture and mistreat Mr. Al-Ogaida and other prisoners.” Identifying details about Daniel E. Johnson, such as his address, are blacked out in the complaint. There is no indication why, throughout the complaint, Johnson also is referred to as “DJ Johnson.” Al-Ogaidi’s lead counsel is Susan Burke with Burke O’Neil of Philadelphia.